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C'mon now really? This country is so upside down. Arresting home owners who put gardens in their own front yards, raiding 8 man poker home games, and now chasing down some fan who caught a home run ball. It's good to see we have our priorities in order. Hopefully Jeter and the Yankees pick up the guys tab here.

Fan Who Caught Jeter's 3,000th Hit May Owe IRS Thousands

Tuesday, Jul 12, 2011

AP

The tax man may be on the hunt for the super fan who caught Derek Jeter's 3,000th hit. Christian Lopez, 23, recovered the prized ball his father fumbled after The Captain hammered it into their section of the stands in the third inning of the Yankees' win over Tampa Bay on Saturday.

The Verizon salesman from Highland Mills, N.Y., gave the ball back to Jeter, whom he called an "icon," and the Yankees lavished a slew of prizes, including luxury box seats for every remaining home game this season and post-season and some signed memorabilia.

Now the IRS wants a piece. The prizes Lopez received are estimated to be worth more than $32,000 -- and, like game show contestants, Lopez may have to pay taxes on the gifts and prizes because the IRS considers them income.

Some estimate the IRS will put Lopez on the hook for anywhere between $5,000 and $13,000,

C'mon now really? This country is so upside down. Arresting home owners who put gardens in their own front yards, raiding 8 man poker home games, and now chasing down some fan who caught a home run ball. It's good to see we have our priorities in order. Hopefully Jeter and the Yankees pick up the guys tab here.

Fan Who Caught Jeter's 3,000th Hit May Owe IRS Thousands

Tuesday, Jul 12, 2011

AP

The tax man may be on the hunt for the super fan who caught Derek Jeter's 3,000th hit. Christian Lopez, 23, recovered the prized ball his father fumbled after The Captain hammered it into their section of the stands in the third inning of the Yankees' win over Tampa Bay on Saturday.

The Verizon salesman from Highland Mills, N.Y., gave the ball back to Jeter, whom he called an "icon," and the Yankees lavished a slew of prizes, including luxury box seats for every remaining home game this season and post-season and some signed memorabilia.

Now the IRS wants a piece. The prizes Lopez received are estimated to be worth more than $32,000 -- and, like game show contestants, Lopez may have to pay taxes on the gifts and prizes because the IRS considers them income.

Some estimate the IRS will put Lopez on the hook for anywhere between $5,000 and $13,000,

LOL, you know what would be a funny late night sketch(s)? Picture a guy watching TV as Jeter hits his 3000th hit(home run) that is caught by the fan. The guy watching it on TV is cheering uncontrollably, jumping up and down and screaming and the audience thinks its all about Jeter's milestone...that is until it's revealed he's just an IRS agent that's thrilled he's going to be cashing in on the 13k in taxes. Another one could be a guy watching and cheering as a 50 million powerball lottery played out on live TV and the audience thinks he's the winner only to find out he is just an IRS agent that's going to be collecting half of it from the actual winner.

LOL, you know what would be a funny late night sketch(s)? Picture a guy watching TV as Jeter hits his 3000th hit(home run) that is caught by the fan. The guy watching it on TV is cheering uncontrollably, jumping up and down and screaming and the audience thinks its all about Jeter's milestone...that is until it's revealed he's just an IRS agent that's thrilled he's going to be cashing in on the 13k in taxes. Another one could be a guy watching and cheering as a 50 million powerball lottery played out on live TV and the audience thinks he's the winner only to find out he is just an IRS agent that's going to be collecting half of it from the actual winner.

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How bout one that has the kid and his father (who dropped the ball first) at Thanksgiving dinner. Imagine the crap that that guy has to put up with from now on about "dropping the ball".

If you won a prize on Oprah Winfrey you had to pay taxes.. if you win money on Jeopardy you have to pay taxes.. that idiot Richard Hatch is doing time again for failing to pay taxes on his winnings from the show Survivor..

Unfortunately this is the way this world of taxes works, maybe he can figure out how to get mucho deductions prior to next year to offset the hit..

The article says he may owe.. and it does not say that the IRS is after him, it says they may be after him.

I'm another that doesn't see the injustice. Anytime you receive a benefit like this you are going to pay taxes on it. I'm sure the Yankees will be the ones to 1099 him so that they are sure to get the deduction.

I get to attend several Patriots, Red Sox and Celtics games every year for....

FREE!!!

Courtesy of the business I'm in.

And I don't pay a dime of taxes on it! That's why "PatriotsReign"!!

I know a guy who works in the banking industry who told me last year he played 80 rounds of golf "on the house"! And he wasn't taxed on it either! And that's the way it should be.

So why is this young man any different?

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I don't know; I'm not a tax attorney.

Regardless, given the fact that the government is way underwater, I'm having some trouble manifesting any sympathy for a poor guy who got 30k worth of free swag and now has to pay taxes on it. Boo hoo.

Regardless, given the fact that the government is way underwater, I'm having some trouble manifesting any sympathy for a poor guy who got 30k worth of free swag and now has to pay taxes on it. Boo hoo.

If he doesn't want to pay taxes, he's free to return it.

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Tell us Jack...if you made $50k a year and got what this kid got, how would/could you pay $13K in taxes? If he can't afford to buy what Jeter and the Yankees gave him, how could he afford to pay the taxes.

It wasn't like he received any money. Unless you think he should "scalp" some of the tickets to pay the taxes...but then again, he be breaking the law.

Tell us Jack...if you made $50k a year and got what this kid got, how would/could you pay $13K in taxes? If he can't afford to buy what Jeter and the Yankees gave him, how could he afford to pay the taxes.

It wasn't like he received any money. Unless you think he should "scalp" some of the tickets to pay the taxes...but then again, he be breaking the law.

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If I were him, I would have kept the 250-300k baseball instead of trading it for 32k worth of crap and the privilege of paying 5-13k in taxes.

If he can't afford it personally, he can get help from his family or ask the Yankees to pay the extra tax burden.

It's more about the point that the gubmit quickly goes after a fan who gets some tickets to a game, as opposed to focusing on some legitimate tax cheats. Tickets to a game, really? I just hope none of you are taking home any toilet paper from the office stock. :nono:

As for the tax angle on this, "gifts" are not taxable, whereas "prizes" are. So the question here becomes whether or not Mr Lopez recieved "Gifts" or won "prizes". To me, he recieved "gifts" in this instance. There wasn't any sweepstakes, or some drawing for the ball. He caught it, handed it over for free, and the team said thank you by "gifting" him tickets to every game till the season ends. If not, I would think the kid could claim the ball as either barter, or even as lost income. Maybe a tax pro could answer that. What was the value of the ball he gave up, versus the "prizes" he recieved? If he has to pay on what he recieved, then he should get credited for what he gave in order to recieve "it". Maybe someone can offer up something more concrete here.

BTW, so do Jeter, or the Yankees, have to pay tax on the value of the ball they recieved? If the ball is "worth" $250k, are they obligated to pay taxes on that, or is it a "gift" since the kid gave it to them without requesting anything in return? Hmm....

It's more about the point that the gubmit quickly goes after a fan who gets some tickets to a game, as opposed to focusing on some legitimate tax cheats. Tickets to a game, really? I just hope none of you are taking home any toilet paper from the office stock. :nono:

As for the tax angle on this, "gifts" are not taxable, whereas "prizes" are. So the question here becomes whether or not Mr Lopez recieved "Gifts" or won "prizes". To me, he recieved "gifts" in this instance. There wasn't any sweepstakes, or some drawing for the ball. He caught it, handed it over for free, and the team said thank you by "gifting" him tickets to every game till the season ends. If not, I would think the kid could claim the ball as either barter, or even as lost income. Maybe a tax pro could answer that. What was the value of the ball he gave up, versus the "prizes" he recieved? If he has to pay on what he recieved, then he should get credited for what he gave in order to recieve "it". Maybe someone can offer up something more concrete here.

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I think you would have a hard time qualifying it as a gift since there was certainly a quid pro quo involving the baseball. You can be taxed on anything from found property to rewards so I can certainly see a strong case that can be made by the IRS regarding taxation of the benefits received. If you want some reading material here is as good a place to start: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p525.pdf

Think of it this way. Instead of this being about the innocent good guy sports fan. What if it were an evil (in today's society) CEO who is given access to the Presidential Suite in Maui complete with company jet by his client as a "gift". Should we use PR's standard where he receives sports tickets so every gift is non-taxable or should this CEO include the benefit on his income?